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Archive for November, 2003

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Classic Balkanalysis Bogojavlenie- when religious fervor boils over

Bogojavlenie, or “Epiphany” in English, commemorates the baptism of Jesus. It is celebrated throughout the Orthodox world, and usually involves a procession from the church to the nearest body of water. After blessing the water, the priest throws the cross into the icy depths. Then the mad rush begins, as stripped-down bathers take the [...]

Romania’s Private Defense

A classic analysis of Romanian defense from guest author Dr. Sam Vaknin.
Romanian President, Ion Iliescu, contests his homeland’s geography. On Monday, at a joint press conference with Bulgaria’s President Parvanov, he cast both countries as “central-south European” rather than the derogatory “Balkan”. Both polities are well on their way to join [...]

Athens Renewed

Athens- enduring testament to Greece and its classical legacy- is an enticing, exotic European city where past and present coexist in serene yet spirited harmony.
According to myth, the city was named after Athena, Olympian goddess of wisdom, when she endowed it with that ultimate symbol of Greece- the olive tree. Ever since, Athens has been [...]

Investing in Macedonian Tourism: an Unknown Commodity with Potential

A strangely captivating land of mountains and lakes, Macedonia slips beneath the radar of most businessmen and expats. This is a shame, because the little country has a lot to offer for the persistent and committed investor. While it does have problems commonly found in all post-Socialistic Balkan states, the lack [...]

Classic BalkanalysisSaying Yes and No in the Balkans

If you are heading out to the fractious, mixed-up region of the Balkans (that area of southern Europe comprising Albania, Northern Greece, the former Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Romania, and European Turkey), it would behoove you to know a little bit about the surprisingly varied and creative lengths that the various nationalities go [...]

Why we shouldnít give up on Turkey

The recent week of terrorist attacks in Istanbul have spread confusion and panic in Turkey’s spiritual capital. Some fear that the military may crack down if the government cannot stop future outbursts of violence. Others believe that (as in America) a voluntary surrender of civil liberties may be the necessary price of ensuring safety. And [...]

Myths of Yugoslavia

Guest author Dr. Sam Vaknin debunks commonly-held myths about Yugoslavia in this article from April 2000.
I have spent the last decade reading books and articles written about Yugoslavia by luminaries from East and West alike. I wonder if there ever was a subject so enshrouded by myths and inexactitudes, platitudes [...]

Dubious Mandate

By Phillip Corwin
(Duke University Press, 1999)
Reviewed by Nebojsa Malic
Philip Corwin is not a professional apologist, advocacy journalist, propagandist or self-aggrandizing Imperial shill, the kind one would expect writing a book about Bosnia. Corwin, an American in UN service, was the head of UNPROFOR Civil Affairs in Sarajevo during those [...]

Making a Buck in Istanbul

As I was helping the stroller-pushing mom carry her two-ton sack of clothes into the laundromat that day, a ludicrous thought struck me: what if this were Turkey? When the thankful woman blurted out her gratitude, I wanted to reply with “good service, good service?” and the expectant, hound-dog eyes of a [...]

Classic BalkanalysisMurky Balkan Oil Movements

The recent sinking of the Prestige oil tanker came only 2 months after construction began on the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, which will connect the Caspian and [...]

Ethical travelers in the global age

Today, a popular movement is growing in the United States, among travelers and others interested in foreign cultures. This now-widespread sentiment states that America’s global hegemony (military, economic and cultural) is misguided, socially unjust and also quite dangerous. Thus a certain overlap between the “ethical traveler” and the environmentalists, anti-globalization [...]

Foreign Direct Investment in Central and East Europe

A classic analysis of FDI flow in the East from guest author Dr. Sam Vaknin.
Foreign direct investment (FDI) in Lithuania is projected to have grown by at least 15 percent this year. [...]

The Empire of Manuel I Comnenos, 1143-1180

By Paul Magdalino (Cambridge University Press, 2002)
584 pp.
Reviewed by Christopher Deliso
In this magisterial work Professor Magdalino sets the social, economic, religious and military context for the revival of Byzantine fortunes under Emperor Alexios I Comnenos (1081-1118), who began a family dynasty that ruled Byzantium until the murder of his grandson Manuel’s successor [...]

An Istanbul Sketch

At Eminonu, when the dying rays of the Western sun settle over the bridges, and the ferries and tugboats bob, the mercantile past and present of Istanbul stand out. Grizzled rogues from the Caucasus and Kazakhstan tilt the orbit of commerce eastward, while from the bridge amateurs cast their lines for the [...]

Simulating Victory in a Simulated War

Seven short months into the war, and we’ve already seen everything- the weapons of mass destruction, the star-crossed multicultural marriages, the stage-managed toppling of Saddam’s statue and his symbolic, triumphant return, in the form of guerrillas who claim to be revenging both him and an Islam humiliated- while [...]

Is Albania Sponsoring ”Freedom Fighters” Next Door?

In 1998, when NATO’s war on Yugoslavia was first being organized, secret camps were set up in northern Albania. There, British and American forces [...]

To End A War

By Richard Holbrooke
(Random House, 1998)
432 pp.
Reviewed by Nebosja Malic
(NOTE:  all page numbers refer to the hardcover edition)
Today’s Bosnia-Herzegovina is not so much a functioning country as a living testimony to the modern America policy of nation-building, and the man who brought it about in the Balkans, one Richard [...]

Thank God for Jayson Blair- and Argo Riistan too!

Until recently, the Jayson Blair “scandal” seemed certain to be the most uplifting media event of the year. But who could have anticipated that this sublime manifestation of the “Disneyworld Principle” would be upstaged by the textual trickery of an unknown journalist from little Estonia?
It must have been especially hilarious for [...]

NATOís Transformation: the Benefits and Headaches of Expansion

9/11 was a lifesaver for NATO. At the time catastrophe struck, the unraveling fiasco in Kosovo was already bringing increased attention on the alliance’s essential role and value. Having been unconvincingly transformed from an alliance of mutual self-defense into one of humanitarian intervention, NATO might have been put back on life [...]

DPA machinations endanger an already unlikely weapons collection

On Saturday, after a fanfare of media, peace concerts, and even an anti-weapons march that attracted a few hundred stragglers (some governmental) and succeeded mostly in angering Skopje’s idled motorists, the long awaited weapons collections began. After all the controversies, mockery and doubt surrounding this epochal event, the government is [...]

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